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19. John Dangelo - The Battle of Two Faiths - Politics & Christ

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In this episode of the Bad Roman Podcast, Marine Corps veteran and former atheist, John Dangelo joins Craig for a conversation on the disconnect between what the state does and its compatibility with living the way a faith in Christ challenges us to live. They explore themes of war, contemporary progressivism, and how Christians on the right and left have forgotten how to separate political and religious faith.

As Christian Voluntaryist/Anarchist, we put our faith in Christ, not the authority of man made states. When we take a step back, most of our life, from who’s going to fold the laundry, to where we should go on vacation, or to whose turn it is to pick the kids up from soccer practice is done without government intervention, it is voluntary, it is the true definition of voluntaryism/anarchism. So why did Christians cry out at a man kneeling before a flag rather than kneel before that same flag for the sake of Christ? The realities of this entanglement is what we explore in episode 19 and the cornerstone of what the Bad Roman Project seeks to explore.


Timestamps and resources for further exploration:

00:51 John’s background

01:47 Clinging to faith in political parties instead of in Christ

03:59 Does it benefit politicians on the right to ban abortion

05:24 “Where else would they go”

06:38 Theatrics in place of debate - contemporary progressivism

09:13 Evangelical left

  • Pew data on evangelicals and protestants political bends

13:06 Push back from other veterans on John’s writings

13:57 Talking with other Christians

  • Being a Sunday school teacher

  • Thrive Church

15:04 Where is the disconnect for Christians when it comes to war?

18:58 What is the hold up for Christians?

  • Losing site of faith when talking politics

 22:23 The failures of the two-party system & the path to anarchy

25:56 Colin Kapernick kneeling and the response from the right

26:37 Overtly political symbols in Church

  • You cannot be a servant to two masters

  • Peaceful protest

  • Anarchist are supposed to be peaceful

29:50 We are anarchist in 99% of our lives

  • Reject rules, chose it voluntarily 

32:10 Collapse of the Soviet Union

  • Was relatively peaceful, things did not go up in flames

35:40  Government as Mad Max analogy 

38:16 John’s plugs